726 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



for the Ih-st, or six with the Seneca. The game is played singly or by partners, 

 and there is no limit to the number. Usually there are three or four players. 



In counting the grains there is a kind of ascending reduction ; for as two hirds make 

 one pumpkin, only one bird can appear in the result. First come the twenties, then 

 the fours, then the twos, which can occur but once. Thus we may say for twenty, 

 Jo-hnn-l6-tah, "you have one field" or more, as the case maybe. In fours we can 

 only say Ei-yae-ne-you-mli-la, "you have four pumpkins." for five would make a 

 field. For two beans there is the simple announcement of 0-yxi-ali, "bird." 



The game of peach-stones, much more commonly used and important, has a more 

 public character, although I have played it in an Indian parlor. In early days the 

 stones of the wild plum were used, but now six peach-stones are ground down 

 to an elliptic flattened form, the opposite sides being black or white. This is the 

 great game known as that of the dish nearly three centuries ago. The wooden 

 bowl which I used was 11 inches across the top and 3 inches deep, handsomely 

 carved out of a hard knot. A beautiful small bowl, which I saw elsewhere, may 

 have been used by children. The six stones are placed in the Kah-oon-wah, the 

 bowl, and thence the Onondaga term the game Ta-yitne-oo-wdli-es, throwing the bowl 

 to each other as they take it in turn. In public playing two players are on their 

 knees at a time, holding the bowl between them. Beans are commonly used for 

 counters. Many rules are settled according to agreement, but the pumpkin is left 

 out, and the stones usually count five for a bird and six for a field. All white 

 or all black is the highest throw, and five or six are the only winning points. In 

 early d.ays it would seem that all white or all black alone counted. The bowl is 

 simply struck on the floor. This ancient game is used at the New Year's or White 

 Dog Feast among the Onondaga yet. Clan plays against clan, the Long House 

 against the Short House, and, to foretell the harvest, the women play against the 

 men. If the men win, the ears of corn will be long like them; but if the women 

 gain the game, they will be short, basing the results on the common proportion of 

 the sexes. As of old, almost all games are yet played for the sick, but they are 

 regarded now more as a diversion of the patient's mind than a means of healing. 

 The game of the dish was once much used in divination, each piece having its own 

 familiar spirit. But it is more commonly a social game now. 



Seneca. New York. 



Morgan ' describes the Iroquois game under tlie name of Gus-ga-e-sd-td, 

 or " deer-buttons." 



This was strictly a fireside game, although it was sometimes introduced as an 

 amusement at the season of religious councils, the people dividing into tribes as 

 usual and betting upon the result. Eight buttons, about an inch in diameter, were 

 made of elk horn, and, having been rounded and polished, were slightly burned upon 

 one side to blacken them [fig. 47]. When it was made a public game it was played 

 by two at a time, with a change of players as elsewhere dc^scribed in the Peach-stone 

 game. At the fireside it was ))layed by two or more, and all the players continued 

 in their seats until it was determined. A certain number of beans (fifty perhaps) 

 were made the capital, and the game continued until one of the players had won 

 them all. Two persons spread a blanket and seated themselves upon it. One of 

 them shook the deei'-buttons in his hands and then threw them down. If six turned 

 up of the same color, it counted two; if seven, it counted four; and if all, it counted 

 twenty, the winner taking as many beans from the general stock as he made points 

 by the throw. He also continued to throw as long as he continued to win. When 

 less than six came up, either black or white, it counted nothing, and the throw 

 passed to the other player. In this manner the game was continued until the beans 

 were taken up between the two players. After that the one paid to the other out of 



' League of the Iroquois, Rochester, 1851, p. 302. 



